The eternity of God reflects on the nature of sin in a way that shows sin to be far more hellish and heinous than man normally thinks of it as being. In the two verses below, while these verses were used in another connection, they give a picture of what sin really is. Sin is so awful that when God in His true and righteous judgment judges which results in the smoke of torment rising forever and forever, it is worthy to be praised. Man, in his blindness and darkness, cannot and will not look at sin as so awful that God would punish it for eternity. Man refuses to look at his sin as so detestable that other beings will worship God when He judges their sin. BUT MAN MUST WAKE UP TO THE HIDEOUSNESS OF HIS SIN.
Revelation 19:1-5 – “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.’ 3 And a second time they said, ‘Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.’ 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’ 5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.’
Revelation 14:11 – “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Matthew 18:8 – “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.” In this verse it gives us the picture of sin as well with the end of sin (eternal fire) in view. It is better, all things considered, if your hand or foot causes you to sin to cut it off and throw it away with detestation. Notice the language of the text here, however. It says “if your hand or foot causes you to stumble.” It does not say that those things do cause people to sin, but says if they did. In other words, it is conditional. The text is pointing out that sin is so horrible in light of the eternal fire that one should be eager to cut off body parts in order not to go there. But of course with sin body parts are not the real problem, the heart is. But the point of the text is still the same. In light of the eternal fire (which shows the eternality of God) sin is far worse than a human being can imagine.
“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:29). There is also a sin that will never be forgiven. It is to be guilty of an eternal sin and the person that commits that will never be forgiven for all eternity. But there could be no eternal sin unless there is a God that is eternal to sin against. When we know that all sin is against God who is eternal and so deserves eternal punishment, we can understand grace to some degree as well. But there is one sin that God will never forgive for all eternity. Sin is that serious and man must begin to see sin in light of eternity rather than his own selfish heart.
“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS” (Romans 2:5-6). When sin is looked at from the vantage point of eternity, it is seen to be that which the unrepentant person is storing up for him or herself wrath. If a person’s heart and treasure is in heaven, that person stores up treasure in heaven by his or her life on earth. If a person’s heart and treasure is on this earth, then that person’s sin is storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment and wrath. That is the view that the eternity of God brings to life. When that view is not thought of, the world appears far different than it really is.
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